Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are the BEST soft and chewy cookie recipe, made with oats, vanilla and raisins, ready in less than 20 minutes!
If you’re looking for delicious cookie recipes you’ll also love Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemon Cookies and Brown Sugar Cookies.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are soft and chewy and full of buttery rich flavors! This cookie recipe is about as easy and old fashioned as it gets, and it’s definitely one of my personal favorite cookie recipes.
You can add any seasonal spices you’d like to these cookies, like nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or allspice. These can also be made these with dried cranberries and butterscotch chips, and they’re always popular. Mix-ins are an easy way to take a base recipe and make Christmas baking much easier.
Assemble a double or triple batch and add different mix-ins after you separate the batter into different bowls and you’ve significantly cut down cookie prep times!
As far as desserts go, these definitely disappear the fastest. If you also use an ice cream scoop it will help to make each cookie the same size.
One of the best tips to make tasty cookies is to mix your dry ingredients together before mixing everything else in. This makes sure everything gets mixed evenly, and you’ll have much better results for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
You have a few options when choosing oats for oatmeal cookies. A lot of recipes will call for old fashioned rolled oats, and they do add a lot of chewy texture to the cookie.
This recipe uses quick cooking oats for two reasons. First, quick oats tend to make the cookie softer. Second, it’s easy to keep in your pantry for multiple uses. Instant oatmeal also cooks faster (even in cookie form), and we think it tastes the same as the rolled oats.
Honestly, no matter which oat you choose, the cookies are going to taste incredible, it’s just a texture preference.
For this oatmeal cookie recipe you can add chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds. Either one of these would taste good and add some crunch to the cookie.
Brown sugar helps give the cookies a deep molasses flavor and golden brown color. If you find yourself without any, you can replace it cup for cup with white granulated sugar.
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More Cookie Recipes to Try
- Sprinkles Birthday Cake Cookies
- Crinkly Brownie Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Flourless Chocolate Chewy Cookies
- Black and White Cookies
Tips for Making Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Add ½ cup of semisweet chocolate chips for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. You can also use dark chocolate chips for a less sweet flavor, and butterscotch or white chocolate chips for even more sweetness.
- If your cookies are spreading too much, try adding a few tablespoons of all purpose flour to your dough, and refrigerating your dough for 20-30 minutes.
- Make your oatmeal cookies more crunchy by leaving them in the oven slightly longer than usual. This will dry out the cookie a little bit more and give it that nice crunchy texture.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper to keep the cookies from sticking, and to make cleaning up easier!
- If you make this with gluten free flour and certified gluten free oats, use an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Use dark brown sugar for a richer molasses flavor in the oatmeal cookies.
How to Store Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Serve: Allow Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to cool and serve slightly warm from the oven, with a cold glass of milk. They can remain at room temperature.
- Store: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- Freeze: Oatmeal Raisin cookies can be frozen in both finished cookie or dough form. For fully cooked cookies, make sure they’re at room temperature before wrapping them tightly and freezing. If you freeze the dough, you can either defrost it in the refrigerator and scoop it onto your cookie sheet when it’s soft enough, or freeze it already scooped out into individual cookies. To do this, scoop your cookies onto the baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the freezer for 30-45 minutes, or until the dough is just starting to freeze. Then place the cookies in an airtight container with pieces of parchment paper in-between to keep them from sticking together. Bake your cookies straight from frozen, adding 3-4 minutes to the normal cook time.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 cups quick cooking oats
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and in a stand mixer cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until lightened and fluffy before adding in the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a small bowl and add it into the stand mixer in small batches until it is all just combined, then add in the oats and raisins.
- Roll the dough in two tablespoon sized balls and bake for 8-10 minutes (the middles will look slightly undone, but the edges will have a hint of brown).
Nutrition
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
Made this today. Turned out so good! Way better then the store bought. Thanks!
You’re welcome Mel! Thanks so much for the 5 star review.
Very addictive. The only Oatmeal cookie I will eat.
Thanks Sharon. I have so many cookie recipes on the site. Hope you will try a few sometime! Really appreciate the 5 star rating too!
Amazing cookies. Will definitely make again. I personally got 33 cookies out of the batch, not 18.
Wow! Our cookie size is a bit different! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. I would be curious to see how many cookies you net from our MANY cookie recipes!! https://dinnerthendessert.com/?s=cookie
Very disappointed, I doubled the recipe and it was a nightmare, if it’s not supposed to be doubled it should say. Mine are just a ball
Foolproof recipe! My cookies are delicious. I was out of baking soda so I subbed around 2 teaspoons of baking powder and they still came out great. Delicious, easy, and satisfying.
Sabrina, Fabulous and delicious cookies!!!! I added a half cup of chocolate chips and took them over the top!
Thank YOU!
I did use splenda brown sugar and white sugar. Mine tasted okay. But definitely didn’t look like the photo for the recipe.
OMG!!!I I found our forever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!!! My husband kept eating them and then barely had any room for soup!!! I will freeze the rest of the dough for sure! Moist and chewy, just like we like them!
Yay!! Thanks for letting me know how much you all (especially your husband, haha!) enjoyed them.
Made these this afternoon and they are wonderful! Easy recipe with ingredients that were readily available in my pantry and refrigerator. Nice and soft and chewy and full of flavor! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for the review, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Just made them and they turned out AMAZING!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
You’re welcome, Veronica.
I followed the recipe to a T, but my cookies are
1) a little sour
2)they didn’t rise at all
And they still look raw
Sorry to hear that! If you want to troubleshoot, shoot me an email at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com
The flavor was great but my cookies were too thick and look nothing like what was pictured. Any thoughts on what I might have done wrong??
It sounds like it could have been too much flour if they were too thick. I’d be happy to troubleshoot with you at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com 🙂
I was a professional baker for many years & this is the best oatmeal cookie formula by far! I did substitute half the flour with cake flour & half the cinnamon with nutmeg. As always, I soaked the raisins in warm water (then drained them) for 10 minutes prior to adding to the mix. Thanks for sharing!
That’s a great tip, thanks! So glad you enjoyed them.
Hi! Just wondering whether your meant degrees Fahrenheit or celsius? These cookies look delicious, I can’t wait to make them I may even add choc chips!
The oven temp is Fahrenheit. And chocolate chips would be wonderful in these cookies! Let me know how you like them 🙂
Can you use old fashion oats that take 5 mins to cook?
Certainly! I prefer quick cooking oats, but they all work.
I just found this recipe and can’t wait to try. My house is divided between raisins and choc chips, so I’m going to make a double batch. Would I truly double everything? Or pull back on certain ingredients?
Sounds like a fun debate!! Double everything. Enjoy!
I love a cookie that is crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. This recipe is great!
It’s the best combination!
I made these and they are wonderful! Crisp on outside and chewy on inside. And how cool is it that you provide metric measurements too (I used metric so I could be as accurate as possible) and a timer! thanks for the recipe 🙂
You’re welcome, Lisa!
Very good recipe. Soft on the inside little chewy outside.
Delicious.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Just made these cookies. They are fantastic! Soft, chewy and absolutely delicious. Such an easy, quick and foolproof recipe! Look no further….this is the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe!
That’s so sweet of you to say, Anna! Thanks so much for the 5 stars.
When I couldn’t re-find this recipe, I almost decided never to make oatmeal cookies again. They came out so picture perfect and delicious, I don’t think that’s ever happened for me on the first try. I frequently have trouble with my cookies spreading, so I did refrigerate my dough for 20-30 min prior to forming the cookies.
So glad you found it and that you loved them so much! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know.
Hi, this looks great. My daughter is allergic to dairy and egg. Can I substitute the butter with oil and the egg with an egg replacer. Have you tried this?
I haven’t tested it so I can’t really say. If you decide to try, I’d love to know what worked out for you. Thanks!
Even though oatmeal raisin cookies are such a class, I haven’t yet found my perfect recipe. Looking forward to trying yours!
I hope you enjoy them!
I love oatmeal raisin cookies and this recipe is one of my favorites!!! Make them all the time and my family loves them!
So glad you enjoy them!
I will be making these today with my 5 year old who loves to bake! they sound delicious! thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are a favorite here at our house. Love!!
They’re just so good!
Can’t wait to make these! I love oatmeal raisin cookies!
These look good but aren’t you supposed to put the cookies on a rack after baking to cool?
Yes, you definitley can. 🙂